Sloane and Dangerfield headline players at Gather Round’s top corporate event

The who’s who of footy has landed in South Australia — primed to make this year’s Gather Round the biggest yet.

Premier Peter Malinauskas keeps a key eye out for AFL chief Andrew Dillon saying he plans to talk long-term contract during Gather Round. Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

Corporate leaders are descending on Adelaide for this year’s record-breaking Gather Round kicking off with the Premier restaging a Peter Dutton election campaign mishap by punting a footy into a cameraman.

The Front Bar footy show moment came as Adelaide Airport reported thousands of fans touching down and a fierce line-up of national business titans arriving for a swath of linked corporate events.

SA Business Chamber’s joint official AFL Friday business event for around 700 leaders at Adelaide Convention Centre would headline AFL boss Andrew Dillon, the Premier, Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield, retired AFLW player Kate McCarthy, Crows legend Rory Sloane and Collingwood footy great Nathan Buckley.

Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield is headlining a major corporate event in Adelaide during Gather Round. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Chamber chief Andrew Kay said Gather Round brought numerous corporate leaders to SA for the first time and the annual football event “has barely scratched the surface” in finding economic opportunities.

“The interstate clubs bring their key business leader supporters… we’ve been able to bring interested investors and venture capital groups who traditionally may not visit Adelaide, we are getting them en masse,” he said.

Mr Kay called for SA to hold onto the Gather Round hosting mantle “indefinitely” pushing for new opportunities for AFL clubs to partner with SANFL clubs to host a multitude of future events in “Unley Road, Jetty Road”.

Sydney Swans is hosting a sold out breakfast event Friday morning and nearly 300 people were expected at an elite Carlton IN Business Adelaide event at Penfolds Magill Estate on Friday where the Premier again gets a keynote speaker guernsey.

A club spokesperson said Seven’s head of AFL and sport innovation Gary O’Keeffe and Carlton’s head of development Brad Ebert would draw members of the club’s corporate network “which has grown to be the biggest corporate network in Australian sport, encompassing more than 160 businesses”.

Mr Malinauskas is also attending a Showcase SA business lunch with up to 300 people and a Lanyon Asset Management event.

While Governor Frances Adamson held a chief executive women function on Thursday.

Adelaide Airport expected its busiest week on record with more than 90 additional domestic flights scheduled compared to March and the week’s passenger numbers forecast to be just under 200,000.

“Gather Round is a great driver of business growth in the State and we’re expecting a lot of activity in the terminal as interstate business leaders arrive and depart,” Adelaide Airport managing director Brenton Cox said.

Premier Peter Malinauskas at a Gather Round press event yesterday. Picture: Supplied

Gather Round presser in the Barossa with Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: Supplied

This beat the previous weekly record of 182,000 passengers during the Gather Round in 2023.

Premier Peter Malinauskas’s packed line up of events followed his appearance on Channel 7’s the Front Bar Wednesday night where he re-enacted Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s federal election trail mishap where he injured a cameraman with a slightly skewed punt.

Mr Malinauskas’s kick was on target during a live cross to the welcome dinner for the AFL’s top identities, club leaders and sponsors at the up-market Penfolds Magill Estate.

Originally published as Sloane and Dangerfield headline players at Gather Round’s top corporate event